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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Recently, the U.S. military has been planning to perform a training exercise in the Southwest throughout this coming summer. We should be thankful that they practice, after all. And isn't a strong military, particularly along our border with Mexico, what the conservatives want?

But the minds of pro-gun activists are ever filled with paranoid, anti-government thought.

Naturally, they see the exercise as some sort of government "invasion" (of our own land, duh) and a "prelude to martial law." Extrapolating from that already wild thought, they then try to find a reason for the supposed invasion, naturally jumping on the half-wit theory that it is to confiscate their guns!

One military officer, Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria, sought to calm the extremists. From an article:

Lastoria answered questions for two
hours from a crowd of more than 150 people at a special meeting of the Bastrop
County Commissioners Court, hoping to allay locals’ concerns that the training
operation is a way for the federal government to take over Texas and much of
the Southwest.

Instead, Lastoria was told that he
couldn’t be trusted and was asked whether Jade Helm 15 will involve bringing
foreign fighters from the Islamic State to Texas, whether U.S. troops will
confiscate Texans’ guns and whether the Army intends to implement martial law
through the exercise. The answer for all three was no.

“It’s the same thing that happened
in Nazi Germany: You get the people used to the troops on the street, the
appearance of uniformed troops and the militarization of the police,” said Bob
Wells, a Bastrop resident, after the meeting. “They’re gathering intelligence.
That’s what they’re doing. And they’re moving logistics in place for martial
law. That’s my feeling. Now, I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong. I hope I’m a
‘conspiracy theorist.’”

Lastoria
answered questions for two hours from a crowd of more than 150 people
at a special meeting of the Bastrop County Commissioners Court, hoping
to allay locals’ concerns that the training operation is a way for the
federal government to take over Texas and much of the Southwest.
Instead, Lastoria was told that he couldn’t be trusted and was asked
whether Jade Helm 15 will involve bringing foreign fighters from the
Islamic State to Texas, whether U.S. troops will confiscate Texans’ guns
and whether the Army intends to implement martial law through the
exercise. The answer for all three was no.
“It’s the same thing that happened in Nazi Germany: You get the
people used to the troops on the street, the appearance of uniformed
troops and the militarization of the police,” said Bob Wells, a Bastrop
resident, after the meeting. “They’re gathering intelligence. That’s
what they’re doing. And they’re moving logistics in place for martial
law. That’s my feeling. Now, I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong. I hope
I’m a ‘conspiracy theorist.’”
- See more at:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/meeting-does-little-to-sway-critics-of-army-traini/nk4h4/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesmanpremium#23b53c28.3342480.735716

In response, some far-right politicians reacted by pandering to these idiots (as one sane politician put it), such as by the Governor of Texas sending national guard to the region to "monitor" the drills.

They base this fevered assertion on a single promotional video put out by a manufacturer of drones, called Shadowhawk, which simulates a law enforcement usage of a drone to monitor an illegal gun sale. Extrapolating from this to a ridiculous degree, the web site somehow makes the leap in logic that this video is evidence that the government is doing this.

Even more fantastic, this same survivalist site then goes yet another step further. They cite a statement from the attorney general, where he states that the ATF has considered using drones but that only the FBI has done so already. Naturally this means the ATF has already done so, right?

Of course, there is no actual evidence of any of this, but we wouldn't want facts to color their judgement...

Now, according to the nut jobs at the nation's biggest gun lobby, they don't just want to buy it up, but ban it altogether.

According to an article at MediaMatters,the argument is based on the movement to ban lead from our environment, mostly due to hunter's bullets, which have been responsible for a dangerous increase in lead intake by scavengers such as the endangered California Condor.

In the May issue of the NRA's magazine, America's 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote,
"President Barack Obama is setting the table to ban your ammunition --
all of it," and claimed that "the remaining two years of Obama's term
pose the greatest threat ever to the Second Amendment and our freedom."

LaPierre imagined a ludicrous scheme where "two fatal turns of
events" would lead the EPA to ban all lead ammunition and, subsequently,
the Obama administration to ban all non-lead ammunition. According to
LaPierre, "The president's bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) are partnering with private enviro-radicals to ban lead
projectiles -- including all hunting bullets -- as hazardous."

Despite the fact that the EPA has given no indication that it is
preparing regulations on lead ammunition, LaPierre insisted that the
agency is still seeking a ban.

Of course, there's no shortage of non-lead bullets to go around.

And the argument is also due to a failed attempt at stronger regulation of AR-15 bullets that can (and do) pierce the protective vests of law enforcement:

The ATF announced its intent
to try and ban a particular type of AR-15 ammunition known as M855, or
"green tip," in February. Citing concerns for the safety of law
enforcement officers, the ATF said the move was necessary because the
round contains a steel penetrator, which makes it more powerful than other types of ammunition used in the AR-15.

If Obama "can set a precedent by banning AR-15 ammunition," LaPierre
wrote, "he is well on his way to banning any and all of the ammo his
anti-freedom heart desires."

But the proposed ban was withdrawn.

But, hey, it's easier to whip up a frenzy in the pro-gun, paranoid minds of NRA followers if you exaggerate and irrationally extrapolate these minor examples into an all-out ban, right? That's the only way the NRA can get memberships.

The conservative Washington Timesreported
the story as if Obama had invented a provision of federal law that
allowed for intervention by the military on domestic soil “in
extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the
president is impossible.” However, the clause is a longstanding one that
has been in effect under many presidents.

Jones, however, interprets the law to be official confirmation that
the U.S. military is, at this moment, “training with tanks, armored
vehicles, drones” to “take on the American people, mainly the Tea
Party.” ...

Jones referred back to the 2009 DHS report, saying that the Obama
administration has “fingered veterans as potential terrorists, people
who believe in the Second Amendment, who are pro-life, who want to work
for limited government.”

“I guess the idea of limited government really would terrorize a
socialist,” he continued. “The enemy is freedom and they really are
doing what they can to extinguish it.”

That's right. According to Jones and Pratt, the army will kill veterans, Second Amendment supporters, pro-life people, and general Tea Party supporters, using tanks and drones and armored vehicles.

Of course, they offer no evidence whatsoever other than paranoid reading of an obscure law that has never been used. But, hey, who says it has to make sense?

Sunday, June 15, 2014

On April 16, 2007, a mentally-troubled young man went on a shooting spree on the campus of Virginia Tech University. When the bullets stopped flying, 32 students had been shot and killed and 17 others injured before the gunman took his own life. It stands as the largest mass shooting by a single gunman in the world, and has come to be called the Virginia Tech Massacre.

One of those who were injured was a student named Colin Goddard. Trapped in a classroom when the shooter entered, Goddard was shot multiple times and had to undergo month of recovery and physical therapy to walk again. He still has three bullets in his body. Since the shooting, he has become one of the nation's most outspoken shooting survivors calling for stronger gun regulation. There has even been a documentary made of him, called "Living for 32."

But all of that isn't important to the pro-gun conspiracy theorists. They'll do anything to downplay or cast doubt on any shooting that makes them look bad, including attacking the credibility of survivors or victim families.

And even though the webpage actually shows images of the wounds, they nonetheless claim it to be makeup! From the article:

A living fraudster as mentioned by one of our posters is far more valuable
to the ruling cabal than a dead one. Thus, Goddard is continuously
involved with the attempt to corrupt the rule of the land by impugning
the people’s rights for self defense. ....

Goddard did the bidding of the arch-antagonistic, rabid, extremist
Zionist cabal and was aply rewarded through the production of his own
documentary ....

All that is claimed by Goddard and his Zionist collaborators relating to Virginia Tech is a lie. ....

These fabricated injuries – a fact which is absolute – lends evidence to
the fact that the Virginia Tech was a fake shooting like the others –
like Sandy Hook, LAX, Nairobi, the DC Navy yard event – and far more.

Their "proof" that it is faked? The best they can offer is claims of inconsistency in reporting of where the wounds were on Colin's body. And, of course, they have nothing at all to lend regarding the shooting being part of a "Zionist cabal." Nevermind that the whole shooting would have required the cooperation of a huge number of students, school administration, local emergency personnel, local and national media, and a number of federal agencies. Were all those thousands of people part of "cabal" too??

Hook Elementary in Newton, CT, was a scripted event and no one was actually killed. According to an article:

“..I suspect, in my professional opinion as a consultant and doing this a
long, long time, I think it’s a scripted event that took place. I think
it was in planning for maybe two, two and a half years,” Halbig said
recently in an explosive interview with American Free Press.

His "proof?" He cites how medical helicopters were never requested (never mind that there weren't any injured victims, only dead ones), that medical examiners finished "within 11 minutes" (of course, when little bodies are blown apart with assault weapons and no one is moving or breathing, it's a little hard to get it wrong), port-o-potties were on-site within three hours (what? they can't be efficient with getting places to pee??), he questioned how someone with Asperger's could have the ability to carry the guns and ammo (clearly he doesn't understand that people with Asperger's don't usually have significant physical handicaps), no one would share details with him such as which environmental organization did the crime scene cleanup (if someone was accusing you of a conspiracy theory, would you?).

Finally, after all his poking around and harassing, he got a visit from state investigators who wondered what he was up to and told him to knock it off. Naturally, to a pro-gun conspiracy theorist, this is an obvious sign of a cover-up and not, you know, law enforcement actually investigating why someone is prying into crime details.

Never mind the fact that an entire town has been traumatized by the loss of loved ones and all the children who went to the school witnessed the shooting, and the fact that a coverup of this magnitude would require that the entire town take part in it along with a wide range of city services, school administration, and a number of state and federal agencies.

The simple fact that mass shootings take place nearly every week in America escapes this loony. But then, we wouldn't want to actually put the blame where it belongs: on yet another demented gun nut with mental problems in a society that is all-too-willing to arm him.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Recently, the NFL chose not to air an ad by a gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, during the 2013 Superbowl, citing a policy against airing ads for firearms.Naturally, the pro-gun forces have taken this as a personal attack on all-things-American, with some calling for a boycott on watching the NFL. To them, any turning away of the object of their obsession is like a declaration of war, no matter how small the infraction.Now Alex Jones, of Infowars.com, has taken it a step further. To him, the decision against airing the ad isn't just a policy choice by the NFL, but rather evidence that the NFL is a "propaganda tool" of President Obama's "anti-gun" crusade!From an article:

To gun advocates, this was nothing less than a declaration of war. Alex Jones, who last made headlines with a notorious anti-gun control rant on Piers Morgan’s show, said the NFL’s decision proved the league was “anti-family,” “anti-liberty,” and “anti-American.” Worse yet, Jones said, the NFL was in cahoots with the imperialistic Obama Administration, which is using the Super Bowl as a venue for political propaganda, just like Hitler did with the 1936 Munich Olympics.

That's right. Jones pulled out the tired old analogy comparing Obama to Hitler. Again.Naturally, as with all such conspiracy theories he puts forth, there isn't a shred of evidence that President Obama had anything to do with the NFL's decision. But that won't stop him from saying so, anyhow.See Jones' rant and the ad at Infowars.com HERE. And just to add some fake alarm, he writes on his page:

The is just the latest example of the golden calf that is the NFL selling Americans on the notion that the natural right to self defense is “offensive.” More and more it has proven itself to be a soviet-style political tool useful only in propagandizing Americans, in addition to distracting the masses from real pressing issues.

If folks can’t rid themselves of the illusion of freedom the NFL has constructed by either boycotting it or altogether ignoring it, is there really any hope for America?

Yes, fellow citizens, there isn't "really any hope for America" because the NFL decided not to air an ad!But this isn't the first time Alex Jones has made this poor attempt to paint the NFL as anti-gun and being a "propaganda tool" for Obama. He made this accusation a year ago, too, when announcer Bob Costas commented publicly, on the air, about the scourge of gun violence in our athletics, after Jovan Belcher shot to death his girlfriend, then himself. Costas stated:

“Our current gun culture ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.”

“Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?”

Naturally, Alex Jones not only attacked Costas for the statement, but also the NFL, and then attempted, without a shred of evidence (of course) to link it to President Obama somehow. From the infowars page:

There can be no mistake that the Costas incident was a flagrantly bold, covert and coordinated attack on citizens’ gun rights, but this episode is just the latest in a series of pathetic attempts in the course of the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment.

The current president’s lengthy resumé of attacks on guns speaks volumes about his attitude towards Americans’ right to bear arms.

He then goes on to rattle off a string of perceived slights and supposed statements illustrating Obama as "anti-gun."Given that the NFL has a serious and growing problem of gun violence among its players, and as high as 70% of their players are gun owners, it only makes sense that they are sensitive to the topic, enough to refuse to air ads for guns. But that hardly equates to some sort of government anti-gun conspiracy using the NFL as a pawn!Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!